Minecraft is a game released by Mojang AB and 4J Studios. It is a sandbox PC game with a blocky aesthetic centered around gathering resources to survive, exploring the randomly generated terrain, and creating worlds and sculptures using a variety of colorful blocks and tools, though the objective is largely based on the player's direction. The Wii U version of the game, known as Minecraft: Wii U Edition, was originally released for the Nintendo eShop on December 17, 2015,[1] and later released with a physical edition on May 17, 2016.[2] A Nintendo Switch port, known as Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition, was released for the Nintendo eShop on May 11, 2017.[3] Aside from the different console (and thus, different controls) and an increased map size, it is otherwise identical to the Wii U game. The original game includes references to the Mario franchise, such as a painting featuring 100m from Donkey Kong (which was based on a painting by Kristoffer Zetterstrand), and the Wii U Edition keeps these references.[4] However, both Nintendo versions of the game also have an exclusive Super Mario Mash-Up Pack that was released alongside the respective physical editions.[2]

The Super Mario Mash-Up Pack was released as downloadable content for the Wii U version on May 17, 2016 (though it comes bundled with the physical edition), and alongside the Nintendo Switch version on May 11, 2017. It was developed in conjunction with Nintendo.[5] Though the mechanics of Minecraft remain the same in the pack, everything has been visually changed to match the aesthetics of the Mario franchise, which includes different skins for the player and every block, item, and mob. There is also a premade world containing several Mario landmarks and multiple enemy gauntlets and jumping challenges.[6]

Skins are textures that the player can apply to change their appearance. There are forty Mario-themed skins that come with the pack. The skins, as they are titled and ordered from the selection screen, are:

Mobs make up the creatures that can be found across the world, both friendly and aggressive. Again, all of them exhibit the behavior of their original Minecraft counterparts (e.g. the Hammer Bros do not throw hammers and instead charge the players, just as the Zombies did previously).

Mario enemies and characters are listed first, followed by the original mob in parenthesis.

Unused images (presumably intended for use in the digital manual) in the files for Minecraft: Wii U Edition show that different skins were originally going to be used, rather than the ones in the final version. These include Hooktail as the Ender Dragon instead of Gobblegut, Midbus as the Pigs, and Yoshi as the Horses. Another image shows the Ender Chest with a Mr. I-themed design, rather than the Shy Guy-themed design it has in the release version. Zombie Villagers were originally Boomerang Bros, though they were changed in an update to Hammer Bros. wearing the clothes of the Pianta they were before they were transformed.